Graduate School

Graduate School

The Graduate Exhibition, a showcase of musical and theatrical performances, cutting-edge research and visual arts presented by Penn State graduate students, will open with performances at 7 p.m. March 18 at Esber Recital Hall and conclude on March 20 with poster presentations by graduate students of their research, along with video and visual arts displays.

Penn State Behrend will host two spring information sessions for prospective graduate students. The meetings will take place at 6 p.m. on March 29 and April 7 in Room 180 of the Jack Burke Research and Economic Development Center, located at 5101 Jordan Road in Erie.

Penn State’s part-time master of business administration degree program in Pittsburgh will host three spring events for prospective students. Curriculum, course content, credit exemptions, application requirements and financial aid resources will be discussed at information sessions to be held at 6 p.m. March 14, March 24 and April 5 at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township.

The Penn State College of Nursing is one of 32 schools of nursing to receive a Future of Nursing Scholars program grant through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The funds will be used to support two students pursuing their Ph.D. degrees in nursing.

The evolving health care landscape in the U.S. and its impact on graduate students at Penn State were focal points of interactive workshops held Jan. 25-26 in the Huck Life Sciences Building at the University Park campus. Titled “Health Care Literacy 101,” the workshops were jointly sponsored by the Graduate School and the Graduate and Professional Student Association.

Penn State’s Quality Team Highlights provides a way to recognize those who have contributed to innovation and improvement initiatives. Teams newly charged or formed since July 1, 2015, or not previously registered, can be entered in Penn State’s Team Database, managed by the Department of Planning and Institutional Research in the Office of Planning and Assessment.

The uncertainty on an expired federal loan program that impacts 500,000 students nationwide was reduced yesterday in compromise legislation supported by Pennsylvania Sen. Robert Casey Jr. At a press conference this morning (Dec. 17), Penn State Vice President Robert Pangborn was on hand to thank Casey and emphasize the program’s importance to Penn State students, who rely on the low-interest loans to pay for college.

Children attending the Exploration Station, an educational event hosted by the American Geophysical Union on Dec. 13 had the chance to learn about earthquakes and sedimentary science thanks to a group of graduate students from Penn State’s Department of Geosciences. The Exploration Station included more than 30 hands-on exhibits for children. Three Penn State doctoral candidates — John Leeman, Abby Kenigsberg and Kerry Ryan — created a series of activities for their center, titled “Fun-damentals of Friction and Faulting.”

Sasmita Sahoo, a postdoctoral researcher in Penn State’s Department of Geosciences, won first place in Penn State’s eighth annual Postdoctoral Research Poster Exhibition, held this fall at the Nittany Lion Inn. She received a cash prize of $500. Sahoo’s research poster, “Estimation of Groundwater Storage Changes in the Ogallala Aquifer, United States,” focused on the evaluation of changes in groundwater storage and showed that groundwater is depleting in major aquifers of the United States, leading to a serious threat to the sustainability of vital groundwater resources.

Expanding upon an established program of outreach to Penn State graduate students, the board of directors of the Penn State Graduate School Alumni Society shared professional insights and career advice with the leadership of the Graduate and Professional Student Association during a networking reception Nov. 6 at the Nittany Lion Inn.

A series of Graduate School town halls concluded Nov. 10 with graduate students in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences engaging in conversation with senior leaders of the University about an array of topics related to the graduate experience at Penn State.

Faculty members and researchers from the College of Communications lead contingent of Penn State researchers that will contribute dozens of papers and presentations during the National Communications Association conference.

More than 120 Penn State graduate students participated in the Graduate School’s annual Career Exploration Workshop on Oct. 24, which offered information, insights and perspectives to enhance students’ traditional educational experiences. Formatted as panel discussions, the workshop’s two sessions were designed to help prepare graduate students as they enter the workforce by providing valuable tools necessary to navigate and thrive in today’s job market.

Leading faculty members in the humanities from member institutions of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), the academic arm of the Big Ten Conference, will convene Nov. 5-7 at the Nittany Lion Inn on Penn State’s University Park campus for a colloquium on graduate programs in the humanities. More than 75 attendees from nearly every Big Ten/CIC public institution will be in attendance to discuss ways they can work together to share best practices, innovations and resources to further enhance their collective prestige within the humanities disciplines.